mautner



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. MAUTNER v, MARKHOF.

APPLIANCE FOR SIGHTING GUNS.

No. 470,942. Patented Mar. 15, 1892.

l l 1% l (No Model.) 2 Sl1eetsSheet 2.

' L. MAUTNER v. MARKHOF,

APPLIANCE POR'SIGHTING GUNS.

' No. 470,942. Patented Mar. 15, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LUDWIG MAUTNER VON MARKHOF, OF VIENNA, AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

APPLIANCE FOR SIGHTING GUNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part 'of Letters Patent No. 470,942, dated March15, 1892.

Application filed November 6, 1890. Serial No. 370,505- (No model.) anted in Germany October 5, 1889,11 0 5 1 7 in France October 28, 1889,No. 201,577; in Belgium October 28,1889 lilo-88,228; in ItalyDecember31,1889,XXIII, 26,400, and LII, 30, and in Austria-Hungary January 81,1890 No. 42,758 and No. 67,032.

To o whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LUDWIGMAUTNER VON MARKHOF, a subject of the Emperorof Austria, and a resident of Vienna. in the Province of Lower Austria,in the Empire of Austria-Hungary, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Appliances for Sighting Guns, (for which I have obtainedLetters Patent in Austria-Hungary, No. 42,7 58 and No. 67,032, datedJanuary 31, 1890; in Germany, No. 53,135, dated October 5, 1889; inFrance, No. 201,577, dated October 28, 1889; in Belgium, No. 88,223,dated October 28, 1889, and in Italy, No. 26,400, Vol. XXIII, and No.30, Vol. LII, dated December 31, 1889;) and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full,-

clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to lettersof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

In sighting guns two adj ustmentsare requirednamely, in the vertical andhorizontal axial planes of the gun tube or barrelas is well known; andmy invention has for its object to provide appliances for the lateraladjustment that have no fixed relation to the gun and are operatedindependently thereof and may therefore be located above or below orbeside the gun.

The further object of my invention is to avail myself of theseappliances for the purpose of automatically firing the gun or for thepurpose of giving a signal, preferably audible, which to the gunner willbe equivalent to the command fire.

The appliances for the lateral adjustment of the gun may consist of atelescope arranged above, below, or by the side of the gun, or of a tubewithout lenses, or of a dioptric or other sights of usual form, and tothis sighting device is rigidly connected a segment-scale whose centralor zero graduation is in the plane of the axis of rotation of thelateral adjustment of the sighting device. The segment-scale isconstructed of a non-conducting materialsuch as ebonite or vulcaniteandis provided with a metallic index. The segmentscale rests upon anormally-hori zontal table, and an arm secured to the gun or itscarriage carries a contact-roller that rests upon the scale. The indexwhich constitutes the other contact is adjustable on the segment-scaleaccording to the lateral deviation of the projectile for a given firingdis tance.

In firing upon a moving target account must also be taken in theadjustment of the index of the angle of the sight-line relatively to thetarget during the flight of the projectile, and this angle may bereadily obtained or found by causing the sighting device to follow themovement of the target for a period of time equal to the known time offlight of the projectile. If new the gun is adjusted laterally on itsvertical axis of rotation and the contact-roller comes in contact withthe index on the segment-scale, the gun will be properly sighted, and atthe same time an electric circuit will be closed and the gun tired orthe signal for firing given.

The appliances for giving the proper elevation of the gun are intendedfor guns whose support is liable to motion, such as ships guns, and theelevation is given them under the assumption that the carriage restsupon a horizontal support or on a support having a definite inclination,and when such support rocks it is the duty of the gunner who sights thegun to fire the same at the moment when the sight-line passes throughthe target, or, in other words, when the axis of the gun-barrel is in ahorizontal plane.

By means of the appliances which form the subject-matter of this part ofmy invention the moment of firing--that is to say, the moment when thesight-line passes through the target or is in a horizontal planeisautomati cally determined and the gun fired or the signal for firing thegun automatically given. These appliances consist, essentially, of twoindependently-movable contacts, the movements of both being controlledby those of their supportnamely, the ship. These contacts are soarranged relatively to each other as to come in contact when theirplanes coincideas, for instance, when both are in ahorizontalplanewhethermomentarilyonlyorfor a longer or shorter period oftime, and thereby close an electric circuit, whereby the gun i fired orthe signal for firing is given.

Inasmuch as a true horizontal position has to be fully determined whenappliances of the nature referred to are employed, I employ two sets ofsuch contacts arranged at an angle to each other, for instance as is thecase with ordinary leveling devices, in which two spirit-levels indifferent planes-i. e., at 'an angle to'each other-are used forleveling,and these sets of contacts are circuited in series, so that the circuitwill not be closed unless the supports for both sets of contacts are ina horizontal position. This part of my invention may becarried out invarious ways. For instance, appliances operating on the principle of thespirit-level may be employed. In this case a tube of non-conductingmaterial provided at its longitudinal center with two metallic contactbuttons or anvils and containing a globule of mercury may be combinedwith a similar tube arranged in a different plane, and instead of aglobule of mercury a metallic sphere may be employed. The same resultsmay be obtained by means of two mercury-cups and abalancebeam suspendedon knife edge bearings in gimbals combined with like appliances whosebalance-beam lies in a different plane, the beams having arms of equallength, both dipping into the mercuryof their cups whenever the cups andbeams are in a true horizontal position. Finally, two pendulumsvibrating in different planes and adapted to come in contact with anvilsor buttons Whenevertheir vertical axial planes are in coincidence or apendulum having universal vibration-z'. e., adapted to vibratein alldirections-and a single contact-button may be used, as will be readilyunderstood.

Toprovidefor long-continued rolling or keelin g of the ship, the contactdevices are arranged upon a plate adapted to revolve on an axis parallelwith the longitudinal axis of the ship and provided with means foradjusting the same, so as to compensate for as well as indicate theheeling-angle, in order that the angle of inclination of the gun may beincreased or decreased in proportion to said heeling-angle.

When the appliances for lateral and vertical adjustment are combined forcooperation, the contacts must be circuited in series, so that thecircuit will not be closed unless or until contact takes place in allthe elements of the appliances.

That my invention may be fully understood, I will describe the same indetail, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 shows in longitudinal section a construction and arrangement ofmovable contact based upon the principle of the spiritlevel. Fig. 2 is alike view in which one of the contacts consists of a sphere. Fig. 2 is asection taken on line y 1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevationshowing a beam-contact combined with mercury-cups. Fig. 4 is a top planview of a ships gun and the appliances for lateral adjustment. Fig. 5 isa rear elevation thereof, and Fig. 6 isatop View of the segment-scale.Fig. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the electrical and thesighting appliances combined with a ships gun.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts wherever such may occurin the drawings just described.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 4, 5, and 7, 0 indicates thegun-carriage; t, the track for the same; 19, the gun, and a the hori-.zontal axis of rotation about which the gun moves.

To the carriage 0 is secured an arm q, in

whose outer end is mounted a contact-roller 1 that is adapted to travelover a segmental scale m, constructed of a non-conducting material, suchas ebonite or vulcanite, and m is a metallic index adjustable on thescale in any desired manner. The object of the scale is to admit of thelateral adjustment of the sighting device relatively to the target,especially if the latter is in motionas, for instance, a ship-so thatthe gun may be trained accordingly. To this end the segment-scale isprovided with distance: as well as angle graduations and rests upon atable 'a, that should necessarily be parallel with the plane of motionof the sighting device. The scale is secured to or forms part of a rod70, pivoted at its outer end a: and having at its inner end ahandleportion that supports the sighting deviceas, for instance, a telescope70, though any other sighting device may be used. The adjustablemetallic contact 'm and the gun, if the latter is to be firedautomatically, are inclosed in the electric circuit of a suitablebattery B, in which circuit are also included one or more auxiliarycircuit-' closers, employed to automatically close said circuit, and asignal-bell B for use when the gun is not to be fired automatically forthe purpose of giving the signal to fire or for simply signaling theclosure of the electric circuit. The auxiliary circuit-closers for anthespirit-level. The tube at that contains the moving contact has onopposite sides of its longitudinal center two fixed contacts I) and b,the movable contact being either a globule of mercury c, as shown inFig. 1, or a metallic sphere d, as shown in'Figs. 2 and 2, of suchdimensions as to have bearing on. both the fixed contacts I) and b whenthe tube Ct lies in a horizontal plane. The same result may also beattained by a balance-beam f, whose ends are bent downwardly and formcontacts that oscillate about the knife-edge bearings of the beam anddip into cupsj and j, that contain mercury, said cups having the fixedcontacts I) and b, respectively. The arrangement is such that when thebeam lies in a horizontal plane both arms h and h are in contact withthe mercury in the cups, and so close the electric circuit through thebeam.

I have hereinbefore stated that for the vertical adjustment of the gunitis necessary that a true horizontal plane should be determined for thecontact devices and that for this purpose either two tubes a or twobalance-beams f and their mercury-cups are employed and arranged atright angles to each other, as shown in Fig. 7, and in order that theelectric circuit may be closed when both tubes are in a horizontal planethe fixed contacts thereof must be connected in series. Thus, forinstance, the fixed contact b of one tube may be connected by a wire towith the fixed contact b of the second tube a, the other fixed contactsI) and b of the two tubes being connected with the circuit-wires WV andW, the former including the signal-bell B and the latter the adjustableindex 1% of the graduated-scale m and the gun, as shown in Fig. 1; butinstead of the contacts described and shown in Figs. 1 to 3 a pendulumor a pair of such arranged to vibrate at right angles maybe employed inconjunction with fixed contacts or a universal pendulum-that is to say.a pendulum vibrating on a universal joint may be used in conjunctionwith suitable contacts.

In practice the circuit-closing devices are preferably mounted upon atable provided with the usual leveling devices, so that a normalfiring-level may be determined upon in case of a protracted keeling ofthe ship, said contact-supporting table being arranged to revolve or tobe adjusted on an axis parallel with the longitudinal axis of the shipand is combined with a segment-scale indicating the angular positions ofthe table relatively to the normal horizontal plane of the ship. Theseappliances I have deemed unnecessary to illustrate, as they are wellknown and commonly used in leveling-instruments. When the ship is in aposition of equilibrium in quiet water, the contact-support will behorizontal and its index at the zero graduation of its segment-scale. Ifthe ship begins to heel, the support will assume the same relativeposition and is then adjusted to a horizontal position by means of theleveling devices, the

scale indicating the angle or inclination of the ship to a normalhorizontal, and the gun is trained accordingly by increasing ordecreasing its vertical sighting-angle relatively to the heeling-angle,according as the side of the ship on which the gun is located is in anelevated or depressed position, and in this case the contacts for allthe guns on board are preferably mounted on the same support for obviousreasons.

The operation of the sighting devices may be briefly described asfollows: When both gun and target are stationary and the gunhas beenproperly trained vertically, the target is sighted and the contact madjusted according to theline of sight. The gun is now trained laterallyon its support until the contact-roller (1 contacts with the index m,when the electric circuit will be closed and the signal to fire given orthe gun firedthat is to say, the electric circuit is closed when the gunand telescope are in parallelism. When the target or the gun is inmotion, the target is sighted, the contact-index m is adjusted accordingto the distance of the target from the gun and according to the lead ofthe gun relatively to the time of flight of the projectile, the operatorfollowing or keeping the target.

in sight until the contact-roller (1 contacts with the index m or bymoving the gun latorally to effect this contact, according as thesighting devices move toward or from the gun.

The described appliances for closing the electric circuit may bemodified, in that the arm q q maybe connected with the sighting devicesand the segment-scale with the gun. The arm (1 q is constructed of twoparts hinged together, so as to admit of vertical training of the gunwhen said arm is secured to the sighting devices and the scale to thegun. Whether the arm is connected to the sighting devices or to thegun-carriage, I prefer to construct it as described, so that it may beturned up out of the way of the segmentscale. Of course if the gun isnot to befired automatically the roller will be directly connected withthe one of the poles of the battery B instead of being connected withthe gun, as shown in Fig. 1.

- Having thus described my invention, what I claim is i 1. Thecombination, with a gun carried by an oscillating support, of sightingdevices comprising an adjustable sight independent of the gun, anon-conductive scale connected with the sight, a conductive indexadjustable on the scale, a contact connected with the gun and adapted tomove over the scale, and a normally-interrupted electric firing or alarmcircuit, including said index and contact, for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination, with a gun carried by an oscillating support,sighting devices comprising an adjustable sight independent of the gun,a non-conductive scale connected with the sight, a conductive indexadjustable on the scale, and a contact connected with the gun andadapted to move over the scale, of a normally-interrupted electricfiring or alarm circuit including said index and contact, independentcontacts in said circuit hav ing motion with the oscillating support forthe gun, and a movable circuit closer, the movements of which arecontrolled by those of the gun-support, for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination, with a gun carried by an oscillating support,sighting devices comprising an adjustable sight independent of the gun,a non-conductive scale connected with the sight,a conductive indexadjustable on the scale, and a contact connected with the gun andadapted to move over the scale, of a normally-interrupted electricfiring or alarm circuit including said index and contact, independentcontacts included in series in said circuit and having motion with theoscillating support for the gun,and a circuitcloser for each set ofcontacts, having free motion in different planes, for the purposes setforth.

4. The combination, with a ships gun and a normally-interrupted electricfiring or alarm circuit, of means for automatically closing saidelectric circuit when the ship assumes a given position, consisting ofelectric contacts included in said circuit, a support therefor connectedwith and adjustable relatively to the ships axis, and a circuit-closerhaving free motion relatively to the contacts, said motion beingcontrolled by that of the ship, as set forth.

5. The combination, with a ships gun and a normally-interrupted electricfiring or alarm circuit, of means for automatically closing said circuitwhen the ship assumes a given position, consisting of a plurality ofsets of electric contacts included in series in the circuit, a supportcommon to said contacts and adjustable relativelyto the ships axis, anda circuit-closer for each setof contacts, said circuit-closers havingfree motion in difierent planes relatively to their respective contacts,said free motion being controlled by the motion of the ship, as setforth.

6. The combination, with a ships gun, a gun-sight independent thereof, anon-conductive scale connected with the sight, a conductive indexadjustable on the scale, a contact movable over said scale andcontrolled by the motion of the gun, and a normally interrupted electricfiring or alarm circuitincluding the index and contact, of means forcontrolling the closure of the circuit by the move ment of the ship,comprising independent contacts in said circuit, a support for saidcontacts connected with and adjustable relatively to the ships axis, anda circuit-closer having free motion relatively to the contacts, saidmotion being controlled by that of the ship, as set forth.

7. The combination, with a ships gun, a gun-sight independent thereof, anon-conductive scale connected with the sight, a conductive indexadjustable on the scale, a contact movable over said scale andcontrolled bythe motion of the gun, and a normallyinterrupted electricfiring or alarm circuit including the index and contact, of means forcontrolling the closure of the circuit by the movements of the ship,consisting of two sets of contacts included in series in the electriccircuit, a support for said contacts connected with and adjustable aboutan axis parallel with the longitudinal axis of the ship, andcircuit-closers having free motion relatively to their respectivecontacts in planes at right angles to each other, said motion beingcontrolled by that of the ship, as set'forth.

8. The combination, with a ships gun, of two tubes of non-conductingmaterial a, arranged at an angle to each other, two metallic contacts I)1), arranged on opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the tube,and a loose rolling contact contained in said tubes, a support for thelatter, and an electric firing or alarm circuit in which the contacts I)b of the two tubes are included in series, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

9. The combination, with a ships gun, of two tubes of non-conductingmaterial a, arranged at an angle to each other, two metallic contacts I)1), arranged on opposite sides of the longitudinal center of the tube,and a loose rolling contact contained in said tubes, a support for thelatter adjustable about. an axis parallel with the longitudinal axis ofthe gun, and an electric firing or alarm circuit in which the contacts bb of the two tubes are included in series, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

L. MAUTNER VON MARKI-IOF.

Witnesses:

NETTIE S. HARRIS, W. B. MURPHY.

